Sacha Pitoëff
# Sacha Pitoëff

Sacha Pitoëff (born Alexandre Pitoëff; 11 March 1920 – 21 July 1990) was a Swiss-born French actor and stage director.

## Early life and education

Pitoëff was born in Geneva, Switzerland, on 11 March 1920, the son of Russian-born parents Ludmilla (née Smanova) and Georges Pitoëff. Both of his parents were born in the city of Tbilisi (in modern-day Georgia), then a part of the Russian Empire. The Pitoëffs were prominent actors in France, Georges was a founding member of the Cartel des Quatre (Group of Four), a group including Louis Jouvet, Charles Dullin, and Gaston Baty, dedicated to rejuvenating the French theatre.

Sacha graduated from Lycée Pasteur in Neuilly-sur-Seine, outside Paris. He studied acting and stage direction under Jouvet at the Théâtre de l'Athénée.

## Career

### Stage career

During World War II, the younger Pitoëff followed his mother back to Switzerland, where he played his earliest roles. After the war he returned to Paris, becoming general manager at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord. He made his directorial debut with a 1950 staging of Uncle Vanya, which proved both a critical and commercial success.

He became a fixture of Parisian theatre in the 1960s, becoming the director of his own troupe. His repertoire included works by Jean Genet, Eugène Ionesco, Hugo Claus, Robert Musil, Anna Langfus and Anton Chekhov. With Romy Schneider, he staged The Seagull, Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters at Théâtre de l'Œuvre.

In 1967, he achieved his greatest success with a well-regarded production of Luigi Pirandello's Henry IV, which he directed and starred in, with Claude Jade.

### Film acting

Pitoëff played his first film role in 1952, in the omnibus film The Seven Deadly Sins. Appearing in over 50 films, he is probably best known for his performance in Alain Resnais's enigmatic Last Year at Marienbad (1960), as the unnamed man who may or may not be Delphine Seyrig's husband.

He was featured in roles of various sizes in such films as Henri-Georges Clouzot's Les Espions (1957), Peter Ustinov's Lady L (1965), René Clément's Is Paris Burning? (1966), and Jacques Demy's Donkey Skin (1970). He also appeared in several Hollywood productions, including Anatole Litvak's Anastasia (1956) and The Night of the Generals (1967), Mark Robson's The Prize (1963) and Dick Clement's To Catch a Spy (1971).

Toward the end of his acting career, he began appearing in horror films. His final role was as the bookseller Kazanian in Dario Argento's Inferno (1980).

For the last ten years of his life, Pitoëff was a professor at the National School of Theatre Arts and Techniques (ENSATT) in Lyon, where his students included Gérard Depardieu, Jean-Roger Milo and Niels Arestrup.

## Personal life and death

Pitoëff was married to French actress Luce Garcia-Ville, until her death by suicide in 1975. He had two siblings, actress Svetlana Pitoëff and writer Aniouta Pitoeff.

His height and distinctively-gaunt, lanky appearance may have been a consequence of Marfan syndrome.

Having suffered from depression in the final years of his life, he died in Paris at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital on 21 July 1990, at the age of 70.

## Filmography

### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1952 | The Seven Deadly Sins | Pianist | Claude Autant-Lara | Segment: "Pride" |
| 1954 | Rasputin | Police Chief | Georges Combret | |
| 1956 | Anastasia | Pyotr Ivanovich Petrovin | Anatole Litvak | |
| 1957 | La Polka des menottes | Eugène | Raoul André | |
| 1957 | Les Espions | Léon | Henri-Georges Clouzot | |
| 1958 | A Tale of Two Cities | Gaspard | Ralph Thomas | Uncredited |
| 1958 | That Night | Shakespearean Actor | Maurice Cazeneuve | |
| 1958 | The Gambler | Afpley | Claude Autant-Lara | |
| 1960 | Bouche cousue | Jo | Jean Boyer | |
| 1961 | Captain Fracasse | Matamore | Pierre Gaspard-Huit | |
| 1961 | The Three Musketeers | John Felton | Bernard Borderie | |
| 1961 | Last Year at Marienbad | The Second Man | Alain Resnais | |
| 1962 | La Poupée | Alexandre Sayas | Jacques Baratier | |
| 1962 | La Dénonciation | Commissioner Malferrer | Jacques Doniol-Valcroze | |
| 1963 | The Prize | Daranyi | Mark Robson | |
| 1965 | Lady L | Revolutionary | Peter Ustinov | |
| 1966 | Is Paris Burning? | Frédéric Joliot-Curie | René Clément | |
| 1967 | The Night of the Generals | Dr. Lipinski | Anatole Litvak | |
| 1968 | L'écume des jours | Pharmacist | Charles Belmont | |
| 1968 | La louve solitaire | Saratoga | Edouard Logereau | |
| 1969 | The Pleasure Pit | Calzo | André Cayatte | |
| 1970 | The Ball of Count Orgel | Prince Naroumouf | Marc Allégret | |
| 1970 | Donkey Skin | Prime Minister | Jacques Demy | |
| 1971 | To Catch a Spy | Stefan | Dick Clement | |
| 1972 | Escape to the Sun | | Menahem Golan | |
| 1972 | Le journal d'un suicidé | Jailer | Stanislav Stanojevic | |
| 1975 | La guerre du pétrole n'aura pas lieu | Essaan | Souheil Ben-Barka | |
| 1978 | Dossier 51 | Minerve 1 (voice) | Michel Deville | |
| 1979 | Subversion | The President | Stanislav Stanojevic | |
| 1980 | Patrick Still Lives | Dr. Herschel | Mario Landi | |
| 1980 | Inferno | Kazanian | Dario Argento | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1955 | Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion | Bartender | Episode: "Camel Race" |
| 1955 | Sherlock Holmes | Constable Smith / Morgue Attendant / Gustav | 3 episodes |
| 1967 | Au théâtre ce soir | Antonio Fabrizzi | Episode: "Le système Fabrizzi", also director |
| 1967 | Lagardère | Prince Gonzague | 6 episodes |
| 1967 | Henri IV | Henri | TV movie, also director |
| 1969 | Une soirée au bungalow | Northover | TV movie |
| 1969 | La cravache d'or | | 12 episodes |
| 1970 | Le fauteuil hanté | Eliphas de la Nox | TV movie |
| 1972 | Schulmeister, espion de l'empereur | Dangberg | Episode: "Schulmeister contre Schulmeister" |
| 1972 | Comme il vous plaira | Jacques de Boys | TV movie |
| 1972 | Antigone | Tiresias | TV movie |
| 1972 | Graf Luckner | Dr. Morgan | Episode: "Der Jazzsänger" |
| 1973 | Byron libérateur de la Grèce ou Le jardin des héros | Baron de Blaquiere | TV movie |
| 1973 | Incident à Vichy | Prince von Berg | TV movie |
| 1973 | Arsène Lupin | Ignateff | Episode: "L'écharpe de soie rouge" |
| 1974 | Graf Yoster | Professor Ourbiche | Episode: "Die Feuer-Probe" |
| 1974 | Des lauriers pour Lila | Professor Hassman | 5 episodes |
| 1974 | Notre correspondant à Madras | Jim Sieger | TV movie |
| 1975 | Les grands détectives | Arkabad | Episode: "Nick Carter: Mission secrète" |
| 1976 | La poupée sanglante | Dr. Sahib Khan | 6 episodes |
| 1976 | Le château des Carpathes | Gortz | TV movie |
| 1977 | The Magical World of Disney | Sergeant | Episodes: "Barry of the Great St. Bernard (Parts 1 & 2)" |
| 1977 | The New Avengers | Kerov | Episodes: "K Is for Kill (Parts 1 & 2)" |
| 1979 | La maréchale d'Ancre | Samuel | TV movie |
| 1980 | Louis XI, un seul roi pour la France | Drunk | TV movie |
| 1981 | Les amours des années folles | The Abbot | Episode: "La femme qui travaille" |

## Partial stage credits

| Year | Title | Venue | Director |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1939 | An Enemy of the People | Théâtre des Mathurins | Georges Pitoëff |
| 1939 | The Lady of the Camellias | Théâtre des Mathurins | Georges Pitoëff |
| 1951 | Vogue la galère | Théâtre de la Madeleine | Georges Douking |
| 1953 | L'Épouse injustement soupçonnée | Théâtre des Noctambules | Himself |
| 1953 | Dolorès au balcon | Théâtre des Noctambules | Himself |
| 1953 | Le Gardien des oiseaux | Théâtre des Noctambules | Himself |
| 1955 | Andréa ou la fiancée du matin | Théâtre de l'Œuvre | Himself |
| 1955 | Three Sisters | Théâtre de l'Œuvre | Himself |
| 1956 | The Lower Depths | Théâtre de l'Œuvre | Himself |
| 1959 | Uncle Vanya | Théâtre des Champs-Élysées | Himself |
| 1960 | Three Sisters | Théâtre de l'Alliance française | Himself |
| 1961 | The Seagull | Théâtre Moderne | Himself |
| 1962 | Ivanov | Théâtre Moderne | Himself |
| 1963 | Le système Fabrizzi | Théâtre Moderne | Himself |
| 1964 | Uncle Vanya | Théâtre Moderne | Himself |
| 1965 | Comme un oiseau | Théâtre Moderne | Himself |
| 1965 | The Cherry Orchard | Théâtre Moderne | Himself |
| 1967 | The Seagull | Théâtre Moderne | Himself |
| 1967-68 | Henry IV | Théâtre Moderne | Himself |
| 1968 | Der schwarze schwan | Théâtre Moderne | Himself |
| 1969 | Uncle Vanya | Théâtre Moderne | Himself |
| 1969 | The Caretaker | Théâtre Moderne | Jean-Laurent Cochet |
| 1970 | Henry IV | | Himself |
| 1970 | Three Sisters | Théâtre des Célestins | Himself |
| 1971 | The Caretaker | Théâtre des Célestins | Jean-Laurent Cochet |
| 1971 | The Caretaker | Tour | Jean-Laurent Cochet |
| 1972 | L'Impromptu de Paris | Bellac Festival | Edmond Tamiz |
| 1973 | Le Borgne | Théâtre de l'Athénée | Michel Fagadau |
| 1976 | La Tour | Théâtre Récamier | Antoine Bourseiller |
